The history of student activism at Hopkins and nationwide
Reporting about the SGA, not a record of it: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter published this and the SGA did not write it, file it, or approve it. The archive holds it because the article itself uses the phrase “student government”.
Summary
- The Johns Hopkins News-Letter article covers the history of student activism at Hopkins and at colleges across the United States.
- The paper reported that early college protests focused on campus conditions, while later movements addressed issues such as war, civil rights and political speech; it also reported that more than 900 colleges joined nationwide student strikes in 1970 over the Vietnam War.
- The article says Hopkins students held annual antiwar strikes beginning in 1934, and that protesters removed two swastikas from Gilman Hall in 1938.
- The reporter writes that Hopkins students occupied the Homewood Museum in 1969 to oppose the University’s involvement in ROTC and military research, while Black student groups demanded changes in admissions, hiring, representation and curriculum.
- According to the article, 90 women entered Hopkins as Homewood undergraduates in September 1970, after which women continued to seek better facilities and greater representation across campus.
- The News-Letter reported that recent Hopkins protests have largely focused on campus issues, while Emeritus Professor Stuart Leslie said students should engage with Baltimore and wider social concerns.